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A research effort is underway for J50, while a superpodal gathering of orcas J, K and L converged in the waters near Race Rocks. She was not among them.
J50 was presumed dead on Thursday after a search for the whale by boat, by plane and from the shore to locate it.
Around 16:30 Thursday, Ken Balcomb, founding director of the Whale Research Center, said J50 presumed dead. He is under contract with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as the custodian of the demographics of the resident population of whales.
But NOAA and its partners who contributed to the research have not lost hope, said Michael Milstein, spokesman for the agency.
"We have received a lot of help today and it is very important that if it is present, we find it," said Milstein. "We certainly have not determined at this point that we give up. And we determine that day after day, we do not set a schedule.
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A massive search was mobilized for J50 all day Thursday on both sides of the water. Research in Washington's waters included a Coast Guard helicopter, several NOAA researchers in separate boats, Soundwatch, the non-profit recreational company and several whale watching vessels, as well as members In Canada, the Marine Mammal Rescue vessel, the Strainwatch M 51 patrol boat, a non-profit Coast Guard helicopter, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans enforcement aircraft and a seaplane have all been deployed.
"The message given by J50, and J35 and his dead calf a few weeks ago, is that southern resident killer whales are running out of breeding ability and extinction of this population is looming," wrote Balcomb in a statement. humans convene working groups and conference calls that lead to nothing, or worse than nothing, diverting the attention and resources from solving the underlying ecological problems that will eventually make this region once productive.
Lastly seen on Sept. 7, the 3-year-old whale was not with her family several times in local waters around the San Juan Islands, including a superpodal rally Thursday in which some 60 whales from J, K and L pod were together near Race Rocks. However, J50 was not among them.
Balcomb said he and the other center members had been searching for whales for several days this week, with no results, and he did not expect any further efforts to create a live J50. "They can watch whatever they want. They can watch until Christmas, "he said.
J50 would be the second death in less than two months in the critically endangered family of southern resident killer whales. Tahlequah, or J35, brought global sympathy as she was swimming more than 1,000 miles for 17 days across the transboundary waters of the Salish Sea, clinging to her dead calf, which only lived for half a year. -hour. Southern residents have not had a successful pregnancy in three years.
NOAA has plans underway for a rescue of J50, which includes taking him into temporary captivity for rehabilitation.
J50 had a difficult life from the start. Still small for her age, she received her Scarlet name from deep rake marks near her dorsal fin, a sign, according to the researchers, that she had been taken out of her mother by other whales at a wise birth. -wife.
She was known for her spectacular panties, up to 40 in a row, sometimes with her body in an arch.
But while she was still small for her age, scientists worried over the course of 2017 and this year she lost more and more weight. She became so emaciated that it became more and more difficult for her to swim and hold her head as the fat cushion of her skull decreased, reducing her buoyancy. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has made increasing efforts to involve veterinarians and biologists in Canada and the United States in order to save it.
First, they sampled his breath, then started it with antibiotics and then launched a feeding effort, causing him to snort live chinook from behind. a boat, hoping to give her medicated fish if she ate fish right in front of her. She does not have any.
Finally, this week, the agency announced a plan to capture the whale and take it into temporary captivity for assessment and, if possible, rehabilitation because all efforts to cure it in the wild had failed. The agency said it would act immediately if the whale failed, ended up on a beach or was unable to swim. The debate revolved around whether the agency should act, or why it had not acted earlier, and the ethics of such an extreme intervention.
J50 was the first of the "baby boomers" among the southern residents who caused so many celebrations at the end of 2014. Of the 11 babies born between December 2014 and January 2016, only four are still alive. Biologist Deborah Giles, a researcher at the University of Washington's Center for Conservation Biology and a non-profit research director at the Wild Orca, often saw her brother, the largest of J pod, with her J50 babysat. "They were really nice together," said Giles.
She was a brave whale with an independent series, said Giles, spending time alone while her family was racing. She also slipped in the wake of her mother, J16. "You could see that she just wanted to be up all the time; these whales are very playful, they raise their calves and throw them, and the calves swim on their backs. "
Known for making a belly flop by throwing her body out of the water, "she just had a very sweet personality," said Giles.
Public meetings held by NOAA to hear public concerns and reflections on the recovery of southern resident killer whales are still on the agenda for this weekend, including a Friday at Harbor High School Saturday at 7pm. and Haggett Hall waterfalls at the University of Washington, Sunday at 1 pm
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